You may say I'm a dreamer...

On Monday, I went to our first parent-teacher conference at Leo’s school. Leo is a bright student and he’s a big dreamer. Well, according to the teachers, he “doesn’t listen very well.” That doesn’t mean he’s defiant. That means they have to ask him to do something three times before he moves. That means he can stand in front of the toilet for 5 minutes and not get in or that he can sit at the lunch table and eat the cereal bar I gave him in his lunch box but not request the meal the school should give him (that has happened a couple of times). Maybe he’s too much of a rule follower, maybe he’s not autonomous enough, maybe he doesn’t care that much. I don’t know. He doesn’t tell us much. 

But I have noticed he does the same at home. If he watches TV, we have to yell at him for him to turn his head to us, hearing us call his name for the first time –when we have actually called him 5 times. You can tell he stops and thinks when we’re trying to get him to get dressed, brush his teeth, and overall get ready in the morning. 

Also, he just refuses to speak French. When we ask him if he speaks French he says “not all the words.” It’s a bit like it’s all or nothing. Either he knows ALL the words or he knows nothing at all.

Does he put too much pressure on himself? Maybe.

We’re left with a lot of questions. Nothing dramatic. He’s only 3. I just wonder what we’re doing to cause that. Maybe we rush him all the time. Maybe Jude’s arrival was more of a shock than we thought. Maybe school is not challenging enough for him, since he doesn’t really understand what is being said. It’s just hard not knowing how to help him. Then again, the teacher says he doesn’t seem to be bothered by any of this. He plays, he smiles, he talks. So maybe this is no issue? Maybe it’s just the way he is. I’m just anxious about his well-being and want to make sure he’s not afraid of trying, not afraid of asking for help and of sticking up for himself. So I’ll observe him more and see what he needs –and maybe see that yes, he’s a dreamer all right, and just let him be. We’ll see.

Mommy brain

Jude has been spiting up a bit more than usual lately. I was wondering if maybe it was the introduction of formula into his diet. And then I realized that I have been eating Haagen Dazs (yum!) like it's my job and ice cream is made with a ton of milk, and Jude doesn't do well with milk, and... What was I thinking? Well I was not thinking. Mommy brain!

School decisions

Last year we decided to enroll Léo in a French school. We moved a bit south (still too far from the school. Well, only 10 miles but round trip, picking him up takes me about an hour) and off he went, just 3 days after his little brother was born. Talk about transitions! Tomorrow we need to bring his re-enrollment paperwork to school. I think we're going to keep him in that school. The teachers are really nice and the philosophy of the school (students first) is definitely attractive. But two things have me wonder:

1- He still doesn't understand much French and is VERY frustrated. He doesn't listen during class because it's hard to focus when you don't understand what is being said. I am trying to talk to him in French more but he says "Mama, speak English (which sounds like "Enguh-lish!")". He cries almost every morning and finds new excuses not to go to class. He's really not liking this school too much. To be fair, he also had issues with his school last year, so it's not this particular school that he doesn't like, but the fact that he doesn't understand anything 3 hours per day is not helping.

2- The French system focuses a lot on play. I think it's great. Kids have plenty of time to focus on schooling. But if we decide to put Léo in public school when he's 6, I'm afraid he's going to be late. In France, you start learning to read and write at 6, in 1st grade. Here in the US, you start to read and write at 4 or 5. You arrive in 1st grade ready to learn math, pretty much. This year for instance, Léo's teacher told us students learn to recognize numbers from 1-3. Great. Except Léo had done that last year, from 1-10 pretty much. I see friends' kids the same age as Léo already adding numbers. And as much as I don't want to compare, I also don't want him to be late and made fun of when he arrives in public school.

So I think we're going to re-enroll him, because, well, it's too late now that the deadline is tomorrow (resolution for 2015: be more organized. No kidding. That's my resolution. Case in point!). I hope he's going to like his school, learn French, let me talk to him in French, watch cartoons in French, and learn as much as his American peers. The pressure. And he's only THREE!

Well that was a tough transition -and Happy 2015!

Happy new year!!

I went back to work a month and a half ago and man... that was tough. Organization-wise, we pretty much sucked. We had a nanny for a bit but she's so awesome she got a job and left (fortunately she's now a great friend), and the nanny who replaced her was not available all the time because of previous commitments or illness. So I had to take time off a few weeks after being back already, which was not the plan. Jude's daycare will open full time next week, so this right there should make our lives easier.

Work itself has been rough. I can't really focus or understand very deep conversations. My brain goes blank a few times a day. It's quite annoying. Also, one single project has now become my main priority -I'll spend 70% of my time managing it. Overall I still love my job and my team but my motivation is not quite back to what it was pre-Jude. I'm a bit over it right now.

Good news: my brother and his girlfriend have been here since Christmas Day. They're staying until January 12th, which gives us a lot of time to hang out and talk. I love this time together. Last time we saw each other was in May 2013. Too long without seeing my favorite person in the world -the 3 boys in my house excluded.

I'm enjoying the last days of vacation with everyone. I hope you had a great holiday season!